I won't call my response a rant, but rather a critique. No machine that has ever been built is perfect.

In doing such a critique it must be remembered that everyone has different elements of a car that are more important to them than those of the next guy. So, some of the items on your list would have never shown up on my list had I begun the list myself. But there are several others that you did not mention that I see as an engineering or design weakness.

Your list first:

I never gave any thought whateve to the looks of the door pockets. During most of my miles in my 123's I was covering several states and cities and the door pockets were great. This was before Mapquest and GPS technology, so the right pocket had State maps and the left pocket city maps. No complaints. Had I been driving the other 99% of the cars on the road without them I would have had maps scattered everywhere.

I solved the climate control problems by not buying ACC cars for my own use, 240D's, at least the ones that I have had, have had the manual system. Believe it or not, I have enough sense to turn down the temp when I'm hot and turn it up when I'm cold. That said, my wife and daughter have each had a 123 with the late type ACC and have given no problems except for the $35 monovalve kit one time on my wifes 300TD. My "Keep It Simple" theory drives me to the simple 240D, manual everything.

I don't know what makes the difference, but this molding in my Euro cars are perfect, it's the US cars I've had that exhibit this trait.

No complaints about how the inside of the trunk lid looks. These lids are strong and everything stays adjusted and tight, at least that's my experience. I have not found myself, regardless of what I'm driving, in the habit of showing off the inside of my trunk lid. No complaints.

The only complaint or problem I've ever had with glove box doors is the latch mechanism. I have never seen a misaligned lid, or if I did, I simply spent the five minutes that it took to align it. No complaints.

My Euro cars don't have these pockets. I personally think, given the extreme lack of rear legroom that they should not be on any 123 car, except maybe the rare stretch limousines.

I personally see the lock system as an extreme advantage. It is quiet, durable and convenient. You lock the car with the key, making it difficult to impossible to lock the keys in the car, and everything is locked. It's a GREAT system. In the 800,000 or so 123 miles I've replaced one drivers door diaphragm for about $10 and one gas tank door diaphragm for the same price. The system is easy to troubleshoot and relatively troublefree. I wish the same system could be on my '01 C Class.


The responses from others were interesting. Except for the seat frames occasionally breaking down, I see the 123 seats a great design success. MB research determined decades ago that a firm seat is less tiring on long trips. I drive with my seatback reclined much further than most people and have driven my 240D probably hundreds of times where I fueled the car, started down the road and did not stop for anything until the fuel was used up, and we all know how long that can be. For such long hauls the seats are supreme. That said, perhaps I happen to fit the seat well. I am 6' 1" and about 190 pounds, kind of an average sized fellow. If I were larger or smaller, maybe I would have complaints.


I hesitate to list my complaints because it does not include the vast number of positives about these great automobiles. Many of these complaints previous and following are because these cars have lasted so long that we are comparing them to newer cars rather than comparing them to other cars of their period. Here goes with my list of downfalls with these cars. These are in addition to those above.

Power steering gear boxes get slack and are difficult to impossible to adjust. Your only alternative is to take it out, take it apart and shim everything up. This is not something for a DIY guy. This is an engineering oversight as far as I'm concerned.

Underhood drains clogging up causing water in floor boards. I went for years bailing water from floor boards before finding the answer at mercedesshop.com. Bless mshop!

The complexity and frustration of doing any work under the dash is an engineering oversight. It is ridiculous the hassle of going under there for anything other than instrument cluster repair. The good news is that you rarely must do so.

The chincy US Headlights. I suppose this complaint belongs toward the stupid US headlight laws that stayed on the books for years. The Germans had the headlights figured out decades ago for their own use. A plus here is the ease of bulb replacement and adjustment with all lights on a Benz requiring no tools(except US sealed beam replacement.)

The starter seemed to copy the AWFUL GM style starter that has been one of the achilles heels of GM cars for 50 years. Why couldn't they do better on this, particularly for a diesel car.


So there's my list of complaints. If I ever have a full day to spend on my list of 123 positive attributes, I will make that post.

I suggest that anyone complaining about any portion of these cars go drive some American, or even other German cars, or Japanese cars of the same era. First of all, there aren't many left running. To me that says it all. Secondly I expect that the list of complaints on 90% of the other cars of the era will be much longer and with much more mechanical content.

Have a great day,